I. Allegro ma non troppo II. Andante molto mosso III. Allegro
IV. Allegro V. Allegretto

The Sixth occupies a special place among Beethoven’s nine symphonies. Its title "Pastoral" is Beethoven’s own, just as he chose to name the Third "Eroica". However, the Sixth is the only symphony where the composer chose to help listener by providing a few words before each movement. The topic of the opening movement is "The awakening of glad feelings upon arrival in the country." The continual repetitions of the principal theme’s motifs creates an atmosphere of peace and relaxation unique in Beethoven’s symphonic oeuvre. The second movement conjures an idyllic scene alongside a babbling brook. The orchestral accompaniment is almost pictorial in effect, and is only interrupted by the evocation of a cuckoo and blackbird in the form of an instrumental cadenza towards the end of the movement. The third movement, depicting the happy life of village folk, is suffused with folk character, putting considerable distance between itself and the aristocratic minuets encountered throughout Haydn. The poetic program of the symphony eventually redefines traditional symphonic proportions with a fourth movement that is not the finale. This is the famous storm, which begins with spots of rain, culminating rapidly in thunder and lightning. Music analysts have noted that only now does Beethoven employ his first diminished seventh chord in the symphony, which is all the more powerful as a result. It is an indication of just how disciplined and rigorous a structure there is to the work beneath all its superficially relaxed and loose style. Just as the opening movement abstains from dramatic contrasts, the fifth and final movement, "Shepherds, happy feelings after the storm", avoids resolving the symphony through forced conflict. The movement is trouble free and timeless, and concludes amid an even more sublimated atmosphere. Although the above program contains many concrete depictions of natural phenomena – the cuckoos and the thunder to name but two – Beethoven’s intention was not to simply depict visual images, but to present the feelings that these events evoke. "Rather the expression of feelings rather than their painting", he wrote on the score.